The New Face of Corporate Diversity: Bendita Malakia Interview

By Nafeesah Allen

Bendita Cynthia Malakia (she/her) is a rising name in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) advocacy space, with emphasis on  representation for LGBTQIA+ and racial minorities in the legal field. As the Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion for leading international law firm Hogan Lovells, much of her work challenges existing, organization-specific definitions that aim to reflect the entire breadth of global diversities outside their walls. Ms. Malakia shared her expertise of how Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) work inside a U.S. organization really looks, how companies can adopt practices that transform their workforce, and which frameworks can truly set the tone for an entire industry.

NA: How long have you been working on D&I issues and what calls you to this work? 

BM: As a Black bisexual woman, there are rarely spaces that I occupy from a professional standpoint where there are triply-intersectional folks like me. So I ...